1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of apparatus which can retain a food item in an edible condition and also illuminates the food item to provide an aesthetic appearance and ornamental presentation of the edible food item.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, items that retain a food item and have illumination within the retention item are known in the prior art. The following prior art patents and published applications which are relevant to the present invention are known to the present inventor:
1. United States published Patent Application 2005/0083676 A1 issued to VanderSchuit. The application was published on Apr. 21, 2005 and is entitled “LIGHTED ITEMS”.
2. Published Patent Application 2006/0291191 A1 to Vanderschuit published on Dec. 28, 2006 for “ILLUMINATED IMPLEMENTS FOR DRINKING AND/OR EATING AND RELATED METHODS”.
3. U.S. Pat. No. 6,572,244 B1 issued to Clark on Jun. 3, 2003 for “NOVELTY ITEM HAVING ILLUMINATING HANDLE”.
4. U.S. Pat. No. 7,073,917 B2 issued to VanderSchuit on Jul. 11, 2006 for “ILLUMINATED IMPLEMENTS FOR DRINKING AND/OR EATING AND RELATED METHODS”.
The first published VanderSchuit patent for an “ILLUMINATED ITEM” essentially has illuminated indicia on the handle itself. There is no method for causing the source of illumination to directly shine through the food item retained on the retaining apparatus.
The second VanderSchuit published application and the issued VanderSchuit patent talk about having the food item extending through a drinking straw type apparatus with the illumination within the drinking straw type apparatus.
The Clark patent basically talks about having a food item with a source of illumination in the retention apparatus which retains the food item but a key drawback of this invention is that the light source is retained within the handle section and is caused to be reflected into the portion which retains the food item. This does not have the substantial visual enhancement that is preferred by having a direct source of illumination extending from the food retaining item directly into the food item itself.
There is a significant need for an improved innovation wherein the source of illumination is directly caused to illuminate from the apparatus retaining the food item directly into the food item to therefore provide an enhanced visual effect.